En Primeur is French for “Wine Futures”. It is a convenient and often cost-effective way of buying more exclusive wines early on before the batch has been bottled. The consumer invests in a particular wine at an early stage, usually a year or 18 months prior to the actual release of the vintage.

The skin of the grapes are chiefly responsible for the colour of wine. The juice of both red and white grapes is almost always white or clear – the pigments that make red grapes are found in the skins of the grapes.

France is the world’s most important wine producing country, with a viticultural history spanning thousands of years and the highest annual production among all nations. Here we look at the grapes that are the driving force behind the French wine industry.